Method

When rice and dal are cooked, keep them aside. In a separate shallow pan, heat the ghee and stir-fry cumin seeds and cashew nuts slightly and separately.

Add it to the rice and dal.

Add salt and pepper and serve hot

Most common side dishes are the traditional coconut chutney and sambar.

Sambar

Onion sambar is essentially a broth made with toor dal, and is very popular in the cooking of southern regions of India. Cook toor dal until they are crumbling. Add to the dal a mixture of ground spices (roasted coriander seeds, chilies, lentils, tamarind, and salt).

Sambar onions are small and purple in color in India. Pearl onions or shallots in America) are the best for this sambar. They are a little more pungent but in a good way and carry a flavor different from the big onions. The shallots you get in America are a bit bigger than the Indian ones; you may have to chop it smaller.

Ingredients

Toor Dal 1 cup

Small onions (whole) or pearl 15 medium sizes

Water 2 cups

Green chilies 4 medium size

Red chilies 2 medium size

Turmeric 1/2 tbsp

Tomatoes 1 medium size

Chili powder 1/2 tbsp

Tamarind paste 1/2 tsp

Sambar powder 1/2 tsp

Asafetida 1/4 tsp

Garlic two pods

Urad dal 1/2 tsp

Mustard seed 1/2 tsp

Oil 1 tbsp

Cilantro 1/4 bunch

Salt to taste

Method

In pressure cooker add the dal, turmeric, asafetida, water, and garlic and close it with the weight on

Once the high steam comes turn to low heat and let it cook for 10 minutes

Then add the small onions (do not chop them), tomatoes, green chilies, chilies powder, and salt and some extra water for the vegetables to cook

Once the mustard seeds pop remove the pan pour the seasoned ingredients into the cooker that is boiling

Add the tamarind paste and Sambar powder and boil for exactly a second. Remove and garnish it with the chopped cilantro. Serve with white rice, pongal, idli or dosa

You can also add vegetables and spices such as turmeric and chili powder. Heat the dal and vegetable stew until the vegetables cook. You can add a wide variety of vegetables to sambar. You can add okra, drumstick, carrot, radish, pumpkin, tomatoes, and whole or halved shallots or onions, and many different vegetables. Typically, sambar will contain one or several seasonal vegetables as the main vegetables in the soup.

The cooked sambar is typically finished with an oil-fried spice mixture containing items such mustard seeds, urad dal, dried red chilies, curry leaves, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, and asafoetida. Add fresh curry leaves or coriander leaves at the very end to enhance the flavor. Curry leaves in particular are an essential element of authentic sambar; their aroma and flavor provide sambar with a distinct and pleasant herbal essence.

About Us

We have collected a whole bunch of tamil recipes of Tamilnadu plus additional southern states from many resources. The majority of them are mine that I acquired from my mother and mother-in-law. You see as soon as I was newly married 35 years back, my spouse insisted with the intention to eat well I am sure, that I put together his mother’s recipes from Madurai as well.

Consequently We also collected from my mother-in-law which she learned from her mother-in-law so on and on. These are dynasty tamil recipes of the Fenn family from Pasumalai, Madurai.Hope you prepare as well as enjoy them with your family